Search Engine Optimization has over time increasingly played an important role in a website’s ability to be properly indexed for the targeted keywords that are posted throughout the site. As a matter of fact, to be more specific, individual posts on websites like blogs or newsletters need to have targeted SEO in order to be relevant in search engines for the terms people search for. To be clear, we are not referring to link farms that spit out multiple links all over articles, making them look spammy and unnatural in the process. Reference is here being made to specific keywords that are properly distributed in a natural way that does not make what is read sound unnatural and detracts from the message that the article is trying to bring across.

SEO is not something that we are all good at. Many people try their best to optimize their articles as best as they can but generally never truly achieve the level of natural or organic traffic that they had envisioned. While many may say that a little traffic is better than none, the fact of the matter is that their ROI is never realized – a situation that can truly frustrate even the most seasoned bloggers and writers among us. Even if one does get a little traffic, it is more likely that the bounce rate for a particular article or set of articles, or for the entire website in general, may be much higher than if the SEO process was more clearly defined and executed so as to get the right traffic that would make writing articles in the first place worthwhile.

Who Needs SEO Anyway?

The simple answer to that question is everyone. We all need to have SEO optimized pages and posts that will attract search engines so that targeted, natural traffic can be driven to our websites so that we can make a profit, not simply break even. Search Engine Optimization can be compared to a farmer who sells corn for a living. He goes into town and advertises to all an-sundry, the majority of whom really do not have use for corn, and then he returns to his farm. If he puts out too much corn and does not have the clientele who will buy them from him, most of it will spoil and he will lose. This is because he had not attracted the right target audience and as such his business bottoms out. Now, on the other hand, if he went into town and spoke to people who need corn for their business, then he would have the market in which to sell his corn and his business would be booming. Those clients would go and tell other like-minded individuals about the farmer’s corns and business would keep on increasing.

What you can see from that illustration is that targeted advertising is what yielded the ROI that he needed. Properly executed SEO does that for you. It allows your website to be optimized for search engines so that when they visit your site, they will know where to place your site in search results when people search for the keywords that have been optimized for your website. The best optimized websites get indexed a lot quicker than those that are poorly optimized simply for the fact that the search engines find it easier to place SEO’d sites in their proper place, providing top-level ranks for such websites. The greater the visibility of your site in search results is the greater the chance that persons will click through to your website.

Can Search Engine Optimization Harm My Website?

While SEO can be good and beneficial for your website, there is also bad SEO. According to Search Engine Journal (2016), here are the 10 most common SEO mistakes to avoid:

(1) Choosing the wrong keywords.
(2) Using keyword stuffing.
(3) Creating content that’s not about your keywords.
(4) Publishing non-original content.
(5) Skipping title tags and meta descriptions.
(6) Missing quality links.
(7) Going astray with your internal links.
(8) Not investing in a fast and mobile-friendly experience.
(9) Not using the power of influencers and for social media interactions.
(10) Forgetting about analytics.

Is your website guilty of any of these mistakes? If so, you need to revamp all your offending articles and pages and hope that the search engines have not gotten wind of these sins. So, check your site right now, do a search for your keywords, and see where in the search results your website falls. If it is not on the first page of the search results, or second page, or third, or anywhere within the first 10 pages, it means that your site has failed miserably at SEO.

The good news is that all is not lost. There is still some sort of redemption available for your posts and pages. Your website can one day end high up in the results for your keywords and key terms.

Now that you have come to realize the importance of SEO, the next step is to check your website to see if it needs some tweaking. In about 95% of all cases, there is some work that needs to be done to get our sites ready for those search engines that are looking for content to show searchers what they are looking for. Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the top search engines online today and they will penalize your site if it has poor SEO. I am sure you do not want your site to be way down the search results listings. In fact, getting your website in the first 10 search results is what you should be aiming for. However, the closer to number 1 that your website can reach would be much better since most persons do not search beyond the first page of results, let alone the first 5 results on the first page.

If you know that you are incapable of producing targeted content for your website, it is always advisable that you get professional on-site Search Engine Optimization help. This assistance comes by way of complete monthly SEO plans that are fully managed by in-house experts who have years of experience in optimizing websites for search engines. No matter the type and size of business that you operate or industry that you represent, SEO content that fits your business will be provided that guarantees ROI and top rankings in search engine results. Your site can and should rank better. Take that first step and consult the Search Engine Optimization professionals so that they can help get your website indexed for the targeted keywords of your choice.